President Displeased With CID's Attempts To Arrest Senior Military Officers Before Initiating Court Action

President Maithripala Sirisena today said he was displeased with the conduct of the CID as it attempted to arrest senior military officers before even initiating legal action.

The statement comes in the wake of the CID’s attempt to arrest Admiral Ravi Wijegunaratne, the Chief of Defence Staff and the country’s senior-most military officer, over abductions and killings of 11 youth.

The President, who addressed a meeting of media heads and newspaper editors at the President’s House this morning, said the CID should have initiated legal action against the CDS if there was evidence against him.

The meeting took place a day after the Cabinet shot down the President’s attempt to save Abeygunaratne from Police arrest. Having failed to reach a final decision on the subject, the Cabinet deferred the until the return of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe from Vietnam.

The President also said he held discussions with authorities on revising the fuel price formula as the fuel prices saw a steep increase over the past few months. He said the government had come under fire from various circles for failing to contain the fuel price hike.

Any such Amendment, the President said, would be included in the next budget proposals presented to the House by the Finance Minister.